Did a lay company's trust-and-will sales program, with an attorney opinion letter, violate ethics rules?

Plain-English summary

A lay company would prepare estate-planning documents; a nonlawyer contractor would sell, explain, and recommend them to clients and collect information and payment. A lawyer working with the company would receive a drafted living trust and send the client an opinion letter, without opining on the will.

The opinion treated the lay company and contractor's conduct as unauthorized practice and their mutual assistance as aiding it. It said the participating lawyer assisted that practice and violated Rules 4-5.4 and 4-7.3(b) through the solicitation described.

Currency note

This 1994 opinion predates Missouri's 2007 amendments to its Rules of Professional Conduct. An official reference note identifies July 1, 2007 amendments to Rules 4-1.9 and 4-1.10. Subsequent rule amendments or later opinions may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context and verify current rules before relying on it.

Common questions

Q: Did the lawyer's opinion letter make the program permissible?

A: No. The opinion said the lawyer assisted the unauthorized practice of the lay company and contractor.

Q: What conduct did the opinion attribute to the contractor?

A: The contractor made documents available, collected information, explained and recommended them, and accepted payment.

Q: Which numbered rules did it cite for the lawyer?

A: Rules 4-5.4 and 4-7.3(b).

Background and rules framework

The opinion analyzed six described steps of a lay estate-planning document sales program, including a lawyer's trust opinion letter.

Citations and references

Rules of Professional Conduct:

• Missouri Rule 4-5.4
• Missouri Rule 4-7.3(b)

See also

• Missouri Informal Op. 940055: Living trust company program
• Missouri Informal Op. 940136: Estate planning seminar

Source

• Landing page: https://mo-legal-ethics.org/informal-opinion/940036/

Original opinion text

Reproduced from the official source for research purposes. The linked source is authoritative.

QUESTION: Are there rule violations if: (1) a lay company prepares estate planning documents including living trusts and wills; (2) an independent contractor, who is not an attorney, makes the documents available to clients, takes the information from the clients, explains and recommends the documents to the clients and submits the information to the lay company; (3) the lay company prepares a set of documents which are returned to the client; (4) the client pays the independent contractor at the time of the sale and also writes a check for an attorney who works with the lay company; (5) an attorney receives the drafted living trust and prepares an opinion letter which is sent to the client; (6) the attorney does not give an opinion on the will and may or may not prepare documents to fund the living trust. ANSWER: (1) This would constitute the unauthorized practice of law. (2) and (3) Each would be engaging in the unauthorized practice of law and aiding and abetting the other in the unauthorized practice of law. (4), (5) and (6) This would be the unauthorized practice of law and assisting the unauthorized practice of law by the lay company and the independent contractor. It would be assisting the unauthorized practice by the attorney. The attorney would also be violating Rules 4–5.4 and 4–7.3(b) as a result of the solicitation.